Travel Insurance Family Dispute

[Mylisa]

Glad this post helped put things back into perspective for you, Mylisa.

 

For those who are newer to cruising, here's another point: what seems to make sense for a land trip often bears no resemblance to what we have to consider at sea. If you're booked for a week at a hotel and have an emergency a few days beforehand, you can usually just cancel the reservation. Not so on a cruise - it's fully prepaid months ahead of time and governed by a Terms and Conditions contract. It's not realistic to assume that a cruise line will 'understand' an emergency and issue a credit simply because we chose not to purchase insurance.

 

I agree with the comments stressing that unexpected things can and do happen, regardless of age or fitness. I also agree that most people will be totally fine, have a fabulous time and won't need to use the insurance. But you always want to ask (1) am I comfortable with losing the full cost of the cruise if I have to cancel? (2) am I comfortable relying on the availability, quality and cost of medical care in the various locales if I need serious treatment?

 

Good for you that you've made your decision. One less thing to worry about!

 

You are absolutely right Seafairer. Besides we all buy medical and homeowners insurance whether or not we think we're going to have a major event. I don't expect my house to burn down nor be destroyed by a tornado but I pay thousands of dollars every year for homeowners insurance that I hopefully won't use.

 

I purchased the trip insurance. And I really feel better for having done it.

[duct tape]

Good on 'ya! Enjoy.

[Seafairer]

Hooray! So glad you're feeling that you made a good decision.

[lahlah57]

MYLISA....it is a gamble just like car insurance!!

It's to cover the horrors of the uninevitable! It's only a trajedy when you don't have it:eek:

Your sister is playing against dangerous odds. You get it and have peace of mind and she can play against the house and the odds are always for the house not for you......YIKES!

[RachelG]

Not really the same as having car insurance as the potential losses are much more limited with a trip.

 

With car insurance, you aren't only insuring the cost of your car or your medical care should you be in an accident. More importantly, you are buying insurance to protect yourself should you be in an accident with someone who is uninsured or where you are at fault. Lots more risk for loss there, particularly if you are sued my the injured party. And in my mind, that is really what car insurance is for. If it were just to cover the cost of the car, I wouldn't buy it.

[oregon50]

MYLISA....it is a gamble just like car insurance!!

It's to cover the horrors of the uninevitable! It's only a trajedy when you don't have it:eek:

Your sister is playing against dangerous odds. You get it and have peace of mind and she can play against the house and the odds are always for the house not for you......YIKES!

 

NOTHING written in this post makes sense.

Edited June 7, 2015 by oregon50

[Mylisa]

NOTHING written in this post makes sense.

 

Oh, I don't know. It kinda made me feel better about my decision.

[RVRoadie]

You buy insurance to cover losses you can't afford to absorbe yourself, like medical evacuation. Trip cancellation is a limited loss, and probably not worth insuring against. Insuring against lost bags is probably pointless.

[spinnaker2]

So to get down to brass tacks, how much does a medical evacuation cost?

If you are in the middle of the ocean...the vessel will have to go toward the nearest port. And I guess a helo comes into play. Does anyone know how far a helo can go to do a medievac?

And if you can't be evacuated from the vessel and have to go to a hospital in the nearest port, which for a hypothetical sake let's say, happens to be Honduras, what is the medical care like? Will you need to be med jetted out once you are stabilized?

The cost of that could be enormous.

To me, that is the reason for trip insurance.

We have had to use trip insurance once. Husband needed sudden medical care which precluded taking the trip. The trip was pricey, and we were reimbursed for our losses.

Worth it in my book.

[nfcu]

So to get down to brass tacks, how much does a medical evacuation cost?

If you are in the middle of the ocean...the vessel will have to go toward the nearest port. And I guess a helo comes into play. Does anyone know how far a helo can go to do a medievac?

And if you can't be evacuated from the vessel and have to go to a hospital in the nearest port, which for a hypothetical sake let's say, happens to be Honduras, what is the medical care like? Will you need to be med jetted out once you are stabilized?

The cost of that could be enormous.

To me, that is the reason for trip insurance.

We have had to use trip insurance once. Husband needed sudden medical care which precluded taking the trip. The trip was pricey, and we were reimbursed for our losses.

Worth it in my book.

 

This is exactly the reason we always buy trip insurance. I could not have said it better.

[duct tape]

RVRoadie, if you cancel the trip after final payment, it can be quite a loss. Spinaker2, I am American. I have been hospitalized from the ship twice: Montreal and Chile. My Canadian experience was horrific and my Chilean experience was wonderful. I have filed for trip interruption since we were off the ship a week and had multiple expenses for hotels and airfare to meet up with the ship. Rates for MedJet are on their website. A bargain if you ask me! They were wonderful when needed. It is also possible to use the insurance twice in a year. I thought I might be slightly penalized. Nope. I also believe that your AmEx account has an evacuation option. Hope that helps.

[ging466]

I fell over twice when I was cruising the Galapagos...fortunately for me, all I needed were bandaids BUT it could have been a lot worse.

 

Based on some of the posts here, our insurance is way cheaper than the US. For example, on my recent trip to the USA, 4 weeks away cost me roughly A$200 and that covered me for everything (medical, baggage, cancellations and other ancillary items). If I was travelling more frequently (I work), I would take out an annual cover which would cost A$400 (like Dr Ron mentioned earlier).

 

Where insurance is concerned, I "don't leave home without it".:)

 

Cheers

Jennifer

Edited June 9, 2015 by ging466

[YankeePenny]

Between flight and air cancelations due to weather on a Superbowl weekend, and a young someone smashing into us, I can tell you the few hundred saved us tens of thousands of dollars. I would ignore the person questioning you.

Edited June 9, 2015 by YankeePenny

[22Club59]

It may be worth remembering what insurance is for: protection against risk that could had a severe adverse financial impact. We are all different in our capacity to absorb the cost of risks occurring. For me: ex US medical care and repatriation; umbrella liability policy protection; earthquake; loss of real property; are the risks I insure against. Other less financially damaging risks I essentially self insure. We each need to assess what out point of financial damage is and insure accordingly.

[Mark_K]

It may be worth remembering what insurance is for: protection against risk that could had a severe adverse financial impact. We are all different in our capacity to absorb the cost of risks occurring. For me: ex US medical care and repatriation; umbrella liability policy protection; earthquake; loss of real property; are the risks I insure against. Other less financially damaging risks I essentially self insure. We each need to assess what out point of financial damage is and insure accordingly.

 

 

Exactly correct. Start with the premise that insurance companies make money by paying out less than they take in. Then think about whether you can comfortably absorb the loss you're insuring against should it come to pass. If so, insurance makes no sense, if not you have to decide whether you're willing to take the risk (knowing that it's an overall net loss proposition).